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McMeen Elementary
Weekly McMeen Nurse Update
11/10/22, 4:05 PM
Good Afternoon McMeen Families!
The month of November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, June 2022), a staggering 37.3 million people in the United States have diabetes (11.3 of the US population). Among this population of individuals with diabetes, approximately 1.9 - 3.7 million individuals have Type 1 diabetes, while the rest have another type of diabetes. The most prevalent type of diabetes in the US is Type 2 diabetes.
What is diabetes? The most basic way to think about diabetes is the body's inability to access the glucose (sugar) from ingested foods effectively. This means that, instead of the sugar from digested food being transferred into our bodies' cells to be used as energy, the sugar is "stuck" in the blood stream. This is because the body is either lacking enough production of insulin (Type 1) or unable to utilize insulin properly (Type 2). This leads to "high blood sugar" which, if untreated, can lead to serious adverse health outcomes including heart/vascular disease.
Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone made by out pancreas. Insulin is the "key" that opens our cells to let glucose enter our cells to give us energy. Some people with diabetes, such as Type 1 diabetes, have to rely on daily insulin injections/infusions, while other people with diabetes, such as some instances of Type 2, are sometimes able to take other medications and make lifestyle changes to help bring their blood sugar down and back to baseline.
To learn more about diabetes in the US and this month of Diabetes Awareness, please visit the American Diabetes Association website: https://diabetes.org/get-involved/community/american-diabetes-month
😎 In addition, please enjoy this interview with our very own McMeen Mustang, Eli Siegle. Eli has Type 1 diabetes and courageously and graciously agreed to make a video to share his experience with our McMeen community!
Don't forget, no school for students tomorrow, Friday, November 10th.
Have a great weekend!
Nurse Miriam
